Online-only Edition of the Seattle PI?

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer‘s parent, Hearst Corp., is going to move the P-I strictly as an online product if the company can’t find a buyer for the broadsheet by March 10.

Staffers chosen to participate in an online-only version of the Seattle P-I were notified of their selection Wednesday and Thursday. The selections indicate The Hearst Corp.’s plan for such a Web site is advancing.Two reporters said they received “provisional offers” from P-I New Media head Michelle Nicolosi or Hearst executive Ken Riddick. They said they were told they will be given formal offers if the Web site gets the go-ahead from Hearst’s senior management.

The reporters wouldn’t give details, saying they had been asked during their interviews not to comment. Nicolosi also declined to comment. Riddick, who has been at the P-I over the past two days, didn’t return a call seeking comment.

While the news value of this story — namely that a major metro daily is considering this type of permanent move to the web — is huge, the actual reporting of this story, which is basically a mess of inside baseball “no comments” and “on background” sourcing from staff members inside the P-I’s newsroom, is just awful.

There’s nothing newspapers are worse at than reporting on themselves, but this jagged piece of journo-ism just might take the cake. Keep in mind, this is a story by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer about the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.